Metro, the Port of Portland, Portland Business Alliance, Business Oregon and the Oregon Chapter of NAIOP are undertaking a comprehensive review of the region’s inventory of large industrial sites and assessing their readiness to support new private-sector jobs.

"A place where families and businesses thrive" is the community moniker for the City of Forest Grove, and it seems to be an aspiration for all communities in our region. The economic news of the day is telling us there are signs that our economy is recovering, but our high unemployment rate demonstrates there is much more improvement needed. But the number of jobs isn’t the only goal – we need higher wage jobs too, since higher wages deliver a higher quality of life for our residents.

The Building Tomorrow’s Jobs forum held Feb. 1 featured many ways the Portland metropolitan region can better position itself to be an attractive and competitive job market. Tuesday’s speakers, experts in developing economically and ecologically sustainable employment, highlighted clear opportunities for local employers to improve their triple bottom line, as well as tips for cities and counties that want to attract and retain business. Bert Gregory, an expert in developing resource-efficient structures and communities, noted that communities with ambitious objectives are doing great work in the region. "Employers are looking to locate in areas that are hip, urban and green," he said. 

Capacity ordinance supports goals of Community Investment Strategy

The Metro Council today approved an ordinance that will make changes in how the region plans for growth and development inside the urban growth boundary. The capacity ordinance, which passed unanimously, will amend regional policies that guide residential and employment growth over the next 20 years.

This week Metro released the "Eco-Efficient Employment" - the third volume of its Community Investment Toolkit. Eco-efficient employment is defined as businesses realizing economic and ecological benefits by using operations that produce more while saving energy, water, capital, land and waste. The toolkit showcases dozens of creative ideas and best practices successfully implemented by cities across North America that achieved results in attracting new businesses and realizing greater efficiencies within existing employment areas.

The Metro Council today unanimously approved upping the region's contribution to the Milwaukie MAX line project, helping the project gather nearly all the money needed to start construction next summer.

With the council vote, the region will borrow against an expected $2 million to $3 million a year in regional flexible funds to generate $27.4 million for the Milwaukie project, $6 million for planning mass transit between Portland and Lake Oswego and $6 million for planning along the Oregon 99W/Barbur Boulevard corridor. That adds to $72.5 million already allocated to the Milwaukie project from the flexible funds program.